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Baseball America “Under the Radar Prospects With Great Curveballs”

Riley Martin, LHP, Cubs

The lone lefthander on this list, Martin also throws the most traditional downer style curveball, getting more than a foot of vertical drop on the pitch. ... . Martin works primarily off of a low-to-mid-90s four-seam fastball, mixing in a trio of secondaries in a mid-80s slider, a mid-to-high-80s changeup and a low-80s curveball. Martin sits 80-83 mph on the pitch, generating over a foot of vertical drop with average spin rates in the 2,600-2,700 rpm range. Batters struggled against the pitch this season, hitting just .120 against it with a whiff rate above 40% and a groundball rate north of 50%. An older small school college arm with a unique lefthanded pitch mix and an innate feel for spin, Martin could carve out a role as a matchup-driven lefthanded reliever capable of getting six outs each outing.

Thanks, reb.  That's pretty cool that a biochemist with a $0.001M signing bonus, the smallest signing bonus in his draft class, actually has a great pitch worth mentioning.  Reference to a low-to-mid-90's fastball, that's less slow than I expected?  Doesn't seem inadequate for a potential reliever with a deadly curve? 

BA mentions mixing in both slider and change.  My understanding is that the slider is the new development; and he's been using it after visiting the pitch-lab for a couple weeks at the end of June.   

A funky thing with him is how much they pitched him.  Even with 19 days at pitch lab, he racked up 83 innings, and now has another handful between South Bend and now Tennessee playoffs.  Only a couple of starters have that many.  And still they assign him to AFL for more.  Very  unusual, he must be some biochemist rubber-arm?

As with most relievers, control remains a challenge.  49 wild things in 83 innings is kinda high.  (43BB/6HB, plus 7 WP besides.). Hopefully his control is sufficient, or else he'll improve it further.